Development and Characterization of Nano-Composite Solder

Book chapter, 2012

© 2012 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Published 2012 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Lead-free solder and its soldering processing has been well developed and applied in the electronics industry as an interconnection material to replace Sn37Pb solder. However, in recent years with the rapid development of high-density, thin and 3D packaging technology, disadvantages of lead-free solder, such as high soldering processing temperature, which can result in unstable microstructure and thermal stress build-up, have been gradually exposed, limiting its application. Therefore, nanocomposite solder, as a possible replacement for traditional lead-free solder, has been developed and studied for the past decade. The purpose of this chapter is to present the development status and achievements of nanocomposite solder. It will first describe two kinds of fabrication processing of nanoreinforcement and nanocomposite solder. It will then summarize the type of nanocomposite solder and categorize it based on different kinds of nanoreinforcement. Finally, the influences of nanoreinforcement on microstructure, its physical properties and mechanical properties on solder are illustrated in detail and analyzed. In addition, theory and the studies on how nanoreinforcements work on the enhancement of solder performances are also mentioned in this chapter.